‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Woody Harrelson and ‘True Detective,’ Leslie Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Miley Cyrus
Tonight, “Saturday Night Live” aired a new episode hosted by Woody Harrelson, and it was one that we admittedly did not have huge expectations for. The host is not the most-prominent star they’ve had all season long, and maybe our feeling going in was in part what helped us to really enjoy it. Almost everything that we watched in here was, at least for the most part, pretty funny.
We’ll have a little more about this episode as the night goes on, so be sure to check back for a little more. These are just our quick-takes on some of the sketches.
Obama Cold Open – This is usually something worth groaning at, since they are typically the same ideas over and over again. However, this was actually really fun! Obama is apparently a fun drunk, and so is Mitch McConnell.
Woody Harrelson Monologue – Was that “bite” thing with Jennifer Lawrence scripted? That seemed so much more awkward than we imagined anything being on this monologue. That side, she, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth all made decent cameos, but Woody carried this really well.
The Dudleys – Maybe one of the best sketches we’ve seen all season, mostly because it was a pitch-perfect mockery of every single person who complains about TV. All of it was almost perfect beyond words as a representation of the internet.
Match’d – We loved the opening line about MTV being the network you watch when your DVR was broken. The sketch was fairly funny at first, but then dragged on for a few minutes until it got stale.
Weed video – This almost felt like the writers wrote it stoned. It was an entire sketch about a weed law that nobody other than New Yorkers is probably familiar with, and it is with that in mind that this was probably a little strange for some out there to watch.
Weekend Update – An extremely funny edition of “Update” this week, anchored by some really funny jokes, the best performance from Colin Jost on the show yet, the return of Leslie Jones, and a really fun segment with Taran Killam playing Matthew McConaughey, as he and Harrelson talked “True Detective” season 2.
Crack sketch – Not the best post-update sketch, mostly because we had so many sketches earlier about recreation drugs. Sooner or later, the idea gets old. It should have been left with that extremely strange pre-tape a little bit earlier in the night.
Apple song – This also qualifies as one of the weirdest sketches we’ve seen all season, “in the usual way.” We don’t know how this even came together. Who thinks of apples? There were at least a laugh or two in here, but nothing outstanding.
The bar sketch – We always like these to close the show. They are completely silly, but there is something just about the chemistry that the actors have that makes it work. Also, this was definitely a “do not try this at home” moment featuring Woody and Kate McKinnon front and center. A great way to close this show.
Were there some weak moments in here? Without a doubt, but we have to say that as a whole we really enjoyed this episode of the show. It did mostly what we wanted, and that is to produce an extreme number of belly laughs, and have us excited for the future of the show again. Grade: B+.
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